Pros
- Decent public transportation
- Huge college talent pool to draw from
- Startups in the area tend to come out of area colleges
- Recruiting from those colleges is probably the primary draw for the big tech company offices in the area
- Slightly cheaper rent than SF, with much cheaper options accessible by public transportation
- Home prices are way cheaper than the SF Bay Area
- Great nightlife, successful sports teams if you're into that
- There's a 200 year old frigate in the harbor that used to do battle with pirates and there are lots of cool old buildings all around
- The area is becoming more startup friendly. There are resources like TechStars and the Cambridge Innovation Center that weren't around a decade ago.
Cons
- Annoying Puritan laws that aren't enforced evenly
- Cold, long winters
- Hot summers, though this past summer wasn't especially hot
- Not much of a startup culture compared to other cities. Other than the students, people are pretty complacent in general in Boston/New England
- Most people in the area are from there originally or went to school there, more-so than other cities
- Small bubble of startups working on tools for academics
- Parking and driving are kind of a nightmare. Lanes disappear, Massachusetts drivers are super-aggressive, lanes are really skinny, etc..
Neutral
- Not as diverse as other cities, especially outside of the colleges
- Startups in the area are more focused on making money right away